Indoor watering what a pain.

[jkd2572]

Fall is here and once again I have moved my two tropicals indoors. While I like having them inside I hate the watering process. I set the pots in trays and water them were they sit. What I hate is that the drain off in the trays usually does not evaporate as fast as the soil in the pots do. After about three watering I have to get a turkey Baster to remove the water out of the draining trays. Does anyone have a better method for watering indoors and leaving the trees where they are at meaning not taking them to a sink or bathtub?

 

[JudyB]

I take a plastic tub to the trees, water them in the tub, then put them back on their tiles. I use slate tiles to sit them on so if they drip a little it won't ruin the wood. But lately I've found it's almost easier to take them to the sink.

 

[Poink88]

Seems a bit early to bring them in for TX. My tropicals are all still outside. I brought them in for 2 days a few weeks back and they went back out.

With only 2, after a while, you should be able to learn how much each pot needs and have minimum drips. Not much help but that is what I do to my other house plants.

 

[jkd2572]

My soil drains super fast so just putting the required water with min drips is impossible. I just ordered this from orchidlight.com it has a tube that pulls out to drain. Yeah! We will see how it works. It's 26x12

 

[jkd2572]

Dario
I live 4 hours north of you. We have had night temps in the 40s. I bring them in when night temps go below 55. growth stops and the start to look bad. I bring them in and they start growing like crazy again.

 

[Poink88]

Jeremy,

Yep, we had one 40's, that is when I brought a few of my trops in (Buttonwood). I forgot the Neea and some of the leaves got cold burned.

I still prefer them outside as long as possible, they are happier and less power bill too. Maybe I can leave them out for another month here. Today we are at 93*F.

IIRC, roots shut down at around 45*F and growth slows accordingly as you get closer to it. Same happens at upper 90*F so 70's - 80's is the sweet spot for optimal growth (of course depending on plant species also)

 

[stacy allen muse]

?????????????

 

[jkd2572]

Stacy,
That's a great idea for my garaged trees. I currently put them in a few large hot water heater drain pans when they go dormant. I think I will do your idea to them. Thanks for the idea.